Spurs draw 'a dream come true' for Hoops fans

Shamrock Rovers' chairman Jonathan Roche has said the Tottenham Europa League fixtures were "a dream come true" for the fans.

The Hoops were handed a plum tie against the Premier League stars in the Europa League group stage draw today.

Roche said: “We would have taken anybody, it’s a great draw for our fans.

Rovers, the first Irish side to have progressed to this stage of European football, beat Partizan Belgrade 2-1 after extra time last night to secure a place in today’s draw.

The clubs are in Group A against Rubin Kazan, from Russia, and Greek side PAOK Salonika.

“Tottenham are so close to us. Last night was an historic occasion for us and to top it off like this, it hasn’t quite soaked in.

“It’s been an unbelievable two days. Five years ago we were relegated, then the fans took over the club. We won the league for first time in 16 years last season.

“Hopefully now this shows people that we play a good style of football. It’s not really about the money but it’s the whole razzmatazz and the whole profile on the football club. Hopefully we can do ourselves justice.”

Roche insisted that the club would first see if they could play their home games at their 6,000-seat Tallaght stadium but that the Aviva stadium would be an option.

He added: “We will sit down with our association and see what the best thing is for ourselves.

“We might hope to use our ground because it is our home ground and that’s where we will try our best to actually play. It might need a few adjustments but we will hopefully work on that first.”

Tottenham director of football administration Darren Eales admitted the six-hour journey to Kazan, a city on the River Volga and a 90-minute flight east of Moscow, would pose challenges.

Eales however welcomed the prospect of playing Shamrock Rovers. He said: “I must admit after we had Rubin Kazan first out of the hat and then PAOK from Greece I thought I might struggle to go back to White Hart Lane with that draw - but at least we got Shamrock.

“It’s a great fairy tale for them, the first Irish club to get into the group stage of a European competition, and it’s what European football is all about.

“It should be a great night in Dublin. I know their stadium only holds 6,000 so I think they will need to find somewhere with a few more seats than that and it should be a cracking atmosphere there, and a great little trip for our fans.”

Asked whether Tottenham would have to prioritise domestic competitions, Eales insisted not.

He added: “We are not going to treat this as a second-class competition but clearly we are going to have to manage our squad to make sure we get the best out of it for all competitions. That’s part of the challenge of being in Europe.”

Europa League draw:

The draw for the group stage of the Europa League is:

Group A: Tottenham, Rubin Kazan, PAOK Salonika, Shamrock Rovers

Group B: FC Copenhagen, Standard Liege, Hannover, Vorskla Poltava

Group C: PSV Eindhoven, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Rapid Bucharest, Legia Warsaw

Group D: Sporting Lisbon, Lazio, FC Zurich, FC Vaslui

Group E: Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas, Stoke, Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Group F: Paris St Germain, Athletic Bilbao, Salzburg, Slovan Bratislava

Group G: AZ Alkmaar, Metalist Kharkiv, Austria Vienna, Malmo

Group H: Braga, Club Brugge, Birmingham, Maribor

Group I: Atletico Madrid, Udinese, Rennes, Sion

Group J: Schalke, Steaua Bucharest, Maccabi Haifa, AEK Larnaca

Group K: FC Twente, Fulham, Odense, Wisla Krakow

Group L: Anderlecht, AEK Athens, Lokomotiv Moscow, Sturm Graz